This invention pertains to mobile loaders both of the type steered by braking some wheels and not others so that the effect is called xe2x80x9cskid-steeredxe2x80x9d and to more conventional loaders. This type of machine is in common use inside warehouse or factory settings where the machinery may be electrically powered and on farms and also where smaller buildings such as housing may be under construction. The machine, particularly the xe2x80x9cskid steeredxe2x80x9d machine is compact and usually has a relatively short wheel base.
Because of the short wheel base, the load carrying device such as a loading bucket cannot be extended very far forward with much load or the machine may pitch forward. Thus, extension of the bucket cannot be far beyond the wheels, or, alternatively, the load in the bucket must be quite limited.
Current expedients to assist in solving the problem include simply adding weight to the end of the machine opposite the bucket or by extending the wheel base. This may require very heavy loads opposite the bucket in order to balance the movement of the bucket around the axles or otherwise may require a permanently extended arm carrying the counterweight. Such extension tends to cause a pitching rearward after the bucket is unloaded resulting in a relatively unsafe condition.
In the more conventional loader, the bucket is customarily carried very close to the front end of the machine and therefore, cannot reach any substantial distance from the machine. This can prove a disadvantage because of the inflexibility and the lack of reach.
By the present invention, the loader is kept as compact as possible for ease in maneuverability. But when the bucket is loaded, the arm of the bucket automatically extends away from the machine so as to reach further away from machine and therefore to allow loading at a greater distance from the machine. At the same time and by substantially the same mechanism, a counterweight opposite the bucket may be extended in a direction opposite to the extended bucket so that there is a reduced chance of a forward pitching of the machine. It should be noted that the result would be the same regardless of the type of machine and its wheel base. The heavier machine with a larger wheel base may still be subject to tilting if the load in the bucket is too heavy.